Skip to content

Chilliwack funeral homes honour those lost after one year of COVID-19 pandemic

‘This is something we will only see once in our lifetime’: Woodlawn Mt. Cheam manager
24498791_web1_210311-CPL-COVID-anniversary-funeral-home-wreath-chilliwack_1
Funeral director John Walker at Woodlawn Mt. Cheam Funeral Home in Chilliwack on March 11, 2021 with the home’s COVID19 wreath out front, honouring all those lost in the pandemic on this the national day of observance marking one year since the WHO declared a global pandemic. (Paul Henderson/ Chilliwack Progress)

As the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic arrived, some local funeral homes decided to put up a memorial.

In honour of the more than 22,000 lives lost to the pandemic in Canada in the last year, the parent company of Woodlawn Mt. Cheam and Henderson’s funeral homes asked them to do something in remembrance.

Woodlawn Mt. Cheam manager Tim Rowan said they wanted to recognize the lives lost across the company.

“We as a group of funeral homes have done this,” he said Thursday (March 11).

• READ MORE: Canada marks national day of observance to commemorate those who died of COVID-19

Rowan said company-wide the owners of Woodlawn Mt. Cheam have put forth different ideas to memorialize those lost to COVID-19 were shared.

“One in the U.S. put up a tree on the wall and photos to those lost, and it just filled the wall.”

He reiterated what a significant and, hopefully, one-of-a-kind experience this has been for all of us.

”We wanted to do something to recognize the losses that people have gone through. This is something we will only see once in our lifetime.”


Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:
editor@theprogress.com

@PeeJayAitch
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.